Battling Spiders
by Kirsty-Lou
Summary: DH missing moment from chapter 10. RHr Ron faces one of his biggest fears all to impress Hermione.


Battling Spiders

Ron's body ached. His shoulders were stiff, his neck was sore and his right arm had gone numb. The pain was all self-inflicted. He could have slept in a real bed in one of the house's many bedrooms, but he had chosen to sleep in the drawing room with Harry and Hermione. He could have taken the couch, but instead he had insisted Hermione take it, opting instead for the hard wood floor. He decided it had all been worth it though, as Hermione had slept beside him all night, on the cushions from the couch, holding his hand. They had spent several hours talking in whispers, their voices barely audible over Harry's light snores. He had reached for her hand, comforting her as she told him how she worried about her parents. She had gently stroked his palm as he'd offloaded his fears about his family on her. The last thing he had felt before he fell asleep was Hermione sliding her fingers through his, locking their hands together.

Ron rolled over in his sleeping bag and lazily stretched his arms out above his head, enjoying the feeling of satisfaction as his shoulders popped back into place. Both Hermione's and Harry's sleeping bags were empty. He could hear pots banging in the kitchen, and hoped someone was making breakfast. His stomach was rumbling and he eaten since the wedding. As he wriggled out of his sleeping bag he began to ponder Dumbledore's quest. He wasn't entirely sure what their next step was to be. He couldn't go back home; his family was being watched and it would prove to dangerous for all of them, but they couldn't really leave the house either. It seemed increasingly likely to him that the death eaters had some sort of trace on Harry. How else could they have found them so quickly last night?

He was pulling on his jeans when he heard a shriek. Without thinking he grabbed his wand and ran towards the sound. Had Snape come back? Had death eaters made it into the house? Ron's mind ran through a hundred possibilities. He rounded a corner and stopped dead. The scene facing him was not what he had expected. There was no Snape and no masked figures. Instead there was Hermione, perched on top of one of the kitchen chairs, pointing her wand at a darkened corner of the room.

'Hermione, what the_ hell_ is going on? I thought you were being attacked!' he said folding his arms and staring incredulously at her.

She kept her eyes trained on the corner as she spoke to him, her voice shaking slightly. 'I _was_! I mean something jumped out at me, an animal. Over there,' she said, her head bobbing in the direction her wand was pointing.

Ron breathed an inward sigh of relief. Not a death eater – that was good. Now that he thought about it, he probably wasn't best equipped to fight them right now – he still had sleet in his eyes and in his haste to find the source of the scream, he'd buttoned his jeans up wrong.

He was about to make fun of her for freaking out over some tiny beastie when he remembered the book. The fourth chapter to be precise – 'How to be her hero'. She was clearly at least a little scared of whatever was over there; she was still standing on the chair. And all the other tips he'd picked up from it had worked…

'Probably a mouse', he said, grinning, 'Or could've been a nargle…'

'Look if you're not going to deal with this, or take it seriously, I'll just ask Harry -- '

'No!' That was the last thing he wanted. He'd faced death eaters – twice. A mouse was nothing. 'I'll deal with it. No point disturbing Harry.' Holding his head high and puffing out his chest slightly, he moved towards the darkened corner. 'Er, Lumos.' Shoving his wand into the gloom, he froze as he saw what had scared Hermione. In the furthest, darkest corner of the room was a massive spider's web. Two smallish grey spiders clung to the wall to his left, and a third, _at least_ three times the size of the other one sat right in the middle of the web. Ron could feel their creepy, beady eyes staring at him. 'Oh bugger.' This was definitely not going as well as expected.

'What's the matter? Oh Merlin, it's not something dangerous is it?' The concern in Hermione's voice was not helping matters.

Ron kept his eyes trained on the fat spider. He wanted to cry and scream and run away. He could leave them, and get Harry to get rid of them later, but then Hermione would see him acting like a total coward. He had to get rid of them; he had to do battle against the spiders. He did a quick mental check of what he could actually do. He could just kill them, but he suspected that wouldn't go down to well with Hermione. After all, did chapter six not say one of the easiest ways to charm girls was being kind to children and small animals? Ron wasn't completely sure spiders counted. He decided to run the risk; if nothing else it would show Hermione he was capable of being sensitive. He could vanish them, or put them under the Imperius Curse and make them walk out the house, just like fake Moody had done in fourth year. Every spell he thought of he was sure Hermione would find 'morally objectionable', whatever that meant. It seamed like his only option was to act like a man, and use his hands. He wondered how grateful Hermione would be after he saved her – he hoped she'd make it worth the terror he was facing.

Swearing wildly under his breath, he poked his wand at one of the smaller spiders, catching it on the tip. Squirming, he walked to the window, opened it and chucked the little monster outside. He managed to get the second one to do the same. The fat one however, was not willing to go. It was truly revolting. He didn't want to pick it up – just looking at it made him feel sick. He was contemplating vanishing it, and then lying through his teeth about its existence, when Hermione finally spoke. She had climbed down from her chair and was now standing a few feet away, albeit still well out of reach of the spider. 'You could do what my dad does. My mum hates spiders, so he's forever having to get rid of them for her. Trap it with this,' she said handing him a mug off the dresser, 'then slide some paper underneath. That way you can move it without having to touch it.'

Ron took a deep breath and thrust the mug over the spider. Hermione had crept up behind him, and was now peering at it over his shoulder. He could feel her breath on the back of his neck, and the warmth of her hand on his back. She shoved an old copy of the _Daily Prophet_ into his free hand, nodding encouragingly as he tilted the mug to slide it underneath. Unfortunately, he tilted too far, and the spider made a break for it. The only available escape route was down the newspaper, and onto Ron's arm. He let out a high pitched scream and began flailing wildly, nearly hitting Hermione it the face with his free hand. The spider flew through the air, landed on the floor, and scuttled under the table.

Ron began cursing again, and gabbing the mug, hurled himself under the table. He looked but couldn't see the spider anywhere. He was about to give up when he noticed it half-way up on of the table legs. Shuffling forward slowly on his hands and knees, he rounded on it, gently moving the mug into position, before finally catching the evil bugger in it.

Hermione's head appeared upside-down, from the tabletop. 'Did you get it?' she said handing him the newspaper once more.

He grinned at her before gentle sliding the paper under the mug, slowly this time, to make sure he caught the spider. He crawled out from under the table, banging his head on the way up. Cursing at the pain, he flung the spider out the open window then quickly slammed it shut. He turned round towards Hermione trying desperately not to let a massive grin spread across his face. He hoped it had been worth all the trouble.

'Yeah,' he said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

She was ran towards him, and flung her arms round his neck. He let his arms slide round her waist pulling her closer to him, her head nestled into his shoulder. 'Oh thank you Ron! I never used to be afraid of them, but after hearing all about Aragog and what not from you and Harry, they just began to creep me out! I'm so glad you were here to help me!' she said, lifting her head to give him a brief and chaste peck on the cheek.

Ron started smiling to himself. She'd just made it all worthwhile. Puffing out his chest, and trying to sound as casual as possible, he said 'It was nothing really. They're only spiders all.'


End file.
